Current status and prospects of alarm host technology development

    1. Introduction

    The alarm host has been promoted in China for more than 20 years. As the core equipment of the alarm system, its mainstream application scenarios and product forms have not changed much. The 20 years of alarm host promotion are also the 20 years of rapid development of network communication technology. However, the alarm host that occupies the mainstream of the market is still at the level of the 1990s in terms of functional design, human-computer interaction, and communication methods. Although there have been improvements, they are still based on the supplement of the original system and have not kept up with the pace of the development of the Internet of Things and mobile Internet.

　　In the past two years, we have seen some new development trends in alarm hosts, such as Hikvision's alarm hosts, which have unique appearance designs and some applications that are easy to operate. This article will discuss the current status of alarm host technology development and look forward to the development trend of alarm hosts.

　　2. Technical status: communication method

　　The core technology of alarm host, especially the line-based networked alarm host widely used in networked alarm operation services, lies in the networked communication capability. Since the promotion of alarm host, the public telephone network has assumed the responsibility of networked communication. It is no exaggeration to say that the public telephone network is the most important cornerstone of networked alarm service. The timeliness, accuracy and stability of telephone reporting are not only related to the user's monthly communication expenses, but also directly related to whether the duty center can quickly respond to and handle the alarm situation, troubleshoot abnormalities, and provide users with high-quality services.

　　However, with the popularization of communication technologies such as 3G/4G communication, fiber-to-the-home, and VOIP switch transformation, telephone lines are likely to be replaced. The independent power supply advantage of telephone lines is gradually weakening; compared with network communication, telephone lines have slow transmission speeds, peak congestion, high costs, no support for real-time online, low reverse control success rate, and geographical restrictions due to long-distance charges. With the upgrade of telecommunications operators' infrastructure, large-scale "poor response events" of alarm hosts in a certain area also occur from time to time. The role of traditional telephone transmission methods in the development of the networked alarm service industry has gradually evolved from initial promotion to restriction and even obstruction.

　　In order to solve the many problems of alarm host telephone transmission, various supporting products with different communication methods have appeared on the market in the past few years, and have played a unique role in scenarios such as bank telephone line cutting prevention and store alarm services. But in general, the various communication modules of the alarm host are of great help to system integration, and there are some problems in their application in the field of networked alarm services, and they have not developed into a mainstream communication technology to replace traditional telephone transmission.

　　In the early anti-cutting applications of banks, the GSM voice module was mainly promoted. The advantage of this method is that the alarm center's alarm receiving equipment does not need to be upgraded and modified, and abnormal events such as telephone line disconnection and AC power failure can be detected; but GSM voice transmission has poor stability, high communication costs, and there is a risk of signal shielding. In many applications for individuals and shops, many users propose to send alarm information by SMS; SMS is acceptable for sending reminder information to individuals, but there are risks such as delay and loss, and there is a lack of a stable and reliable delivery confirmation mechanism, which makes it difficult to meet the requirements of networked alarm services. For alarm services, GPRS is a better way, which can achieve real-time online, support remote control, and has relatively low traffic costs, but GPRS requires the alarm center to have a public network IP address and a network alarm receiving server, which puts forward high requirements on the maintenance capabilities of the computer rooms of a large number of small and medium-sized alarm centers.

    3. Technical Status: Solutions

　　The problem of networked alarm systems lies not only in the stability of communication transmission, but also in the openness and sustainability of system integration. When designing the on-duty center solution, traditional alarm host manufacturers have more or less the intention of occupying a place, hoping to promote product sales by monopolizing the center platform. Many solutions may have advantages in the short term, but in the long run they are relatively closed and not conducive to the long-term development of the operation service business. We once saw an alarm center apply the "free phone alarm" solution, using the redundant bytes of caller ID to upload alarm information, which may have reduced user costs at the time and achieved promotion advantages, but the cost was to bind the entire system to a specific manufacturer; a few years later, other manufacturers proposed more advantageous solutions, but the center was difficult to upgrade, and the front-end equipment became a heavy burden that hindered the provision of further services to customers.

　　In the networked alarm system, openness is a very important factor, especially in the current period of technological change, when new solutions emerge in an endless stream and each leads the way; the alarm center faces more choices and is more likely to be bound by a single manufacturer's solution; once the wrong technical route is chosen, it is inevitable to be complacent. Looking back on the development history of networked alarm services, although there are multiple manufacturers, most of them support a unified telephone reporting protocol, which undoubtedly creates conditions for the development and growth of alarm services and healthy competition among manufacturers. In recent years, the network alarm system has flourished, and the networked platform has opened the door for the integration of alarms with video, access control and other related systems. The significance of "occupying a placeholder" for the alarm host alone is no longer as great as before. Maintaining good system openness, being able to better integrate with related systems, and providing a better experience for the alarm center and end users will promote the better development of the alarm service industry.

　　4. Technical status: product form

　　When my country first introduced alarm hosts, they were used in key protection units such as finance and cultural and museum industries. The promotion of alarm system solutions also consistently emphasized its professionalism. Even in civilian business areas such as shops, most of them use products similar to those used in banks. From the perspective of professional alarms, this is understandable; but in the face of a broader civilian alarm market, especially the home market that the security industry has long coveted, the alarm host is complex to install and operate, requires regular inspections and maintenance by dedicated personnel, and often has false alarms, making product promotion in the civilian market ineffective.

　　At the exhibition, we have seen that some manufacturers have released alarm hosts with civilian appearance designs, as well as many products that combine alarms and videos. These products have their own highlights, and together they indicate that alarm products are developing in the direction of the civilian market. As these systems gradually stabilize and improve, alarm products will surely be easily used by ordinary users and truly enter the homes of ordinary people.

    5. Development Trend

　　Although there are many problems that need to be solved in the current technical development of alarm hosts, we should also see that the surging Internet wave has brought about earth-shaking changes in many traditional industries, and networked alarm services and alarm host technology will inevitably be greatly affected. Especially in the past 1-2 years, cloud platforms, mobile APPs and other technologies have been increasingly used in alarm hosts, and many manufacturers have proposed solutions and even built their own platforms to promote the development of network alarm services. Against this background, the development of alarm host technology has also shown a diversified trend. Generally speaking, it includes the following aspects:

　　1. Civilian design. Equipment for high-end key industries such as finance continues to improve the level of security with its professional design, and alarm products for general users are also emerging like mushrooms after rain. They are mostly designed with the appearance of consumer digital products, and most of them use simple network communication methods, simple configuration, and convenient operation. Although these hosts have made significant cuts in terms of backup batteries, telephone reporting, and defense zone types, they can still meet the daily security needs of ordinary families. Many wireless alarm hosts for home users have completely subverted the industrial design of traditional alarm hosts in appearance and operation, and are favored by many home users.

　　2. Support mobile phone APP. The network alarm host is a typical application of the Internet of Things, and the APP is the best display and control screen for the alarm host. The APP greatly improves the end-user's application experience of the alarm duty service, increases the communication channels between the alarm service provider and the customer, enhances user stickiness, and plays a positive role in attracting customers and developing business for the alarm center.

　　3. Support cloud platform. The network has no boundaries. By building a duty center or deploying a duty client on the platform of other cloud service providers, the alarm center can provide services to users anywhere. The network alarm host that supports the cloud platform is not only much better than the traditional telephone alarm host in terms of end-user experience, but also creates technical conditions for the rapid replication and low-cost expansion of alarm duty services, which is difficult to match with the traditional telephone alarm system.

　　4. Equipment integration. As large companies with strong R&D capabilities in the industry have been involved in the development of full-line security products such as alarms and access control, alarm hosts and even alarm systems will continue to be deeply integrated with other security systems, both in the traditional industry market and in the emerging civilian market. Video alarm hosts that combine alarms and videos have already had very mature applications, and many Internet home cameras also support alarm functions. The integration of alarm systems with access control and video intercoms has already borne fruit, and the integration with smart homes and various Internet boxes is in the ascendant. A picture of cross-border integration of security products has slowly begun. In the future, the alarm system will still exist as an event trigger source, but whether there will still be alarm hosts and what type of detectors will be derived depends entirely on the needs and preferences of civilian and home users.

　　VI. Conclusion

　　The alarm host has been on the road of specialization for too long. Although professionalism is respectable, it is also unavoidable that it is a niche market. Traditional alarm hosts will still have a place in the professional market in the future, but in the booming emerging civilian market, the alarm host that plays the leading role will definitely not be what it is now. The networking development of alarm hosts will no longer be limited to the expansion and backup of information transmission methods, but will deeply affect the product form of alarm systems and the business model transformation of networked alarm services. This day is coming, let us wait and see.